


Winter & Warmth

by GhostGarrison



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Age Difference, Anders-centric, Circle of Magi, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M, POV Third Person Limited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2017-11-23
Packaged: 2019-01-30 19:16:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12659739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostGarrison/pseuds/GhostGarrison
Summary: During winter, Anders is always cold in the Circle Tower. But he knows a certain enchanter who can keep him warm.





	Winter & Warmth

In the winter months, Anders always wakes in the middle of the night—teeth chattering, entire body shaking, all ten toes numb, and cold right down to the very bone. This time of year always feels unbearable, keeping him from sleeping through the night and making his waking hours unpleasant. He feels like his constant state of being is shivering, rubbing his hands together, and casting small fire spells when he has the chance. He’s so skinny that it’s hard to keep warm, even under his Circle-issued woolen blanket.

Kinloch Hold usually stays a bearable temperature in the daytime, filled with fireplaces powered by magic and inferno mages who simply warm the air around them. But it gets frigid cold at night, enough to turn the tips of his ears pink and make his teeth chatter so loudly that it wakes his bunkmates. 

Those damn Ferelden winters—the ones that can last almost half the year, that coat the trees and tower with a sheet of ice, that can free one's fingers off just by walking outside for a minute. Can anyone, even a person native to Ferelden, truly get used to those?

Thankfully, Anders has a secret method to combating the cold. One only he has the honor of having.

At the early hours of the morning, just past the darkest and coldest part of night, Anders slips out of bed like routine. The wooden rungs of the bunk-bed's ladder creak below his feet, always sounding like they threaten to break beneath his slender frame. The limestone floor sends a biting chill through his worn, thinning cotton stockings with holes in the toes, making him want to crawl back in bed and abandon his effort. But he knows what waits for him at the end of his journey is worth the frozen discomfort.

Through many escapes and escapades of his own, Anders quickly learned several years ago that avoiding templars in winter is surprisingly simple. Encased with metal on all parts of their bodies, templars are constantly surrounded by the inescapable cold, which makes them tired and bumbling at night. Perfect for a light-footed mage, one looking to go where he is otherwise forbidden.

Karl’s room is warm—or at least warmer than his own dormitory, even with thirty or so teenage bodies occupying it. Just like almost every other mage in the tower, the enchanter doesn’t actually have a space of his own. Only Senior Enchanters are privy to that. No, the Enchanter's living quarters is only a hall separated by paper dividers and book-laden shelves that is shared with four other enchanters. But it still has its perks. Three of the five are mages who specialize in the school of inferno magic, so the combined stays relatively warm, even after they had all gone to bed for the night. 

Stepping into Karl's hall makes a world of a difference to Anders, feeling a blast of heat against his exposed skin the moment he reaches it.

And it feels _divine._

The slumbering man doesn’t move a muscle when Anders enters, only lets out a soft snore still lingering after Karl’s unavoidable dust allergies. He can only see a lump beneath the blanket, and some ash brown hair sticking out against the pillow. Anders smiles, seeing that Karl had fallen asleep facing toward the wall, leaving plenty of space for an Anders-sized person to lay beside him.

He quickly crawls beneath the blanket, into the soft cave of addictive warmth, careful to not let much of the heat out. Karl, being a thicker man with more flesh on his bones and an inferno mage to boot, burns like a furnace at high capacity. It makes him miserable during the summer months—though Anders would never complain about how little the enchanter wears to bed then—but Anders couldn’t be more thankful for the enchanter’s absurd body temperature.

Almost immediately, like magic if he were to make such a comparison, Anders’ teeth stop chattering and his body stops shaking. The warmth emanating from the enchanter is an instant balm on his body and soul, surrounded by not only his love’s heat but also his scent.

Karl doesn’t wake when Anders throws his arms around the enchanter’s waist, only snorts in his sleep and adjusts around the other occupant’s body. Anders smiles into the fabric of Karl’s sleeping tunic, burying his face into the fold and savoring the warmth and comforting smell of his best friend, his beloved. He presses a kiss to the center of Karl's back, between his broad shoulder blades, a silent gesture of endless gratitude to the man who invites him into his bed every night, regardless of the possible consequences. Karl had only ever complained once, but not about Anders’ presence but rather the frozen state of his feet. The first time Anders joined him during the winter, Karl nearly lept from the bed with a yelp, and Anders has since learned to keep them away if he wants Karl to get a good night's sleep.

He wishes he could spend all night like this, _every_ night like this, not only in the warmth he desperately needs but beside Karl in bed. He wishes he didn’t have to sneak out, risking punishment or even his life and well-being, just to lay with the one he loves, even if just to stave off the cold for a little longer.

The world is cruel, but he’s long known that. But, in a way, Anders still feels blessed. Being locked in a tower for the entirety of his life is something he’ll never be able to forget, even for a moment, but he’s learned to take good things when he can. And Karl? He’s a good thing, a _very_ good thing.

Finally warm, Anders’ eyes drift shut, set off to dream about one of his favorite things: _waking up in a little house in the countryside that always warm and comfortable, with a purring cat sleeping on his feet and a snoring enchanter in his arms._

Oh, if only that weren’t destined to remain just a dream.

**Author's Note:**

> Something nice to go along with my Skinny Anders and Chubby Karl headcanons.
> 
> Happy Kandersgiving 2017 y'all
> 
> find me on tumblr @ storybookhawke


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